Program Encourages Ethics in Entrepreneurship

Newswise — OMAHA, Neb. – Representatives of the Business Ethics Alliance, based at Creighton University, reported this week on a successful collaboration with Gallup that promotes ethics in entrepreneurship.

Remarks were made during this week’s National Governors Association Regional Summit in Omaha. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, chair of the National Governors Association, hosted the regional event, titled “Growing State Economies”.

Gallup’s Entrepreneur Acceleration System (EAS) program is the only economic development program that infuses ethics into its foundational programming. The Business Ethics Alliance partnered with Gallup to deliver content for EAS entrepreneur workshops so entrepreneurs can understand how to bring intentionality around ethics to strategic planning (values statements) and appreciate the simplicity and power of using moral words to lock in employee and customer engagement.

The Business Ethics Alliance first participated in Gallup’s EAS program in 2011. As a result, the alliance developed a framework to better articulate challenges and opportunities and experience significant growth.

“EAS enabled us to develop the right metrics and, as a result, we are better poised to demonstrate how ethics are a competitive advantage,” said Dr. Beverly Kracher, alliance executive director and Robert B. Daugherty Chair and Professor in Business Ethics and Society at Creighton.

“By developing a metric for individual businesses that shows the relationship between ethics and profit and a Great Cities Index to demonstrates that cities with supportive mechanisms for ethics and values led business, we can show how this spurs economic development,” she said.

The Business Ethics Alliance this year has offered extensive ethics education to the business community and impacted thousands of leaders.

In April, members of the alliance presented at Institute for Career Advancement Needs (ICAN) 2012 Women’s Leadership Conference in Omaha on the subject of “Building Your Moral Leadership Powers”. Adrianna Huffington, president of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, was a keynote speaker at the conference, which was attended by 2,050 women, making it one of the largest women’s leadership events held across the country.

Kracher commented, “Imagine a nation where entrepreneurs support each other and reinforce ethical business climates by confidently articulating their values in business. Imagine a nation where there is a climate of ethical excellence and, as a result, businesses, cities, states and their citizens prosper.” ###

The Business Ethics Alliance delivers practical, city-level business ethics education in lively, engaging educational formats where people leave saying, “I walked away with practical easy-to-implement tips for how to manage ethics in my workplace.” The Business Ethics Alliance shows entrepreneurs, professionals, and small-to-medium sized companies how to create organizational ethics programs through programming, training, and consulting.

The Business Ethics Alliance (http://www.businessethicsalliance.org/) mission is to be a beacon for business ethics excellence for business communities around the world. The Business Ethics Alliance is nonprofit and comprised of small, medium and large organizations that are committed to creating ethical business climates that benefit the overall community.

The alliance has partnerships with Creighton University, Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau and local business leaders. The synergy of these organizations and civic leaders has enabled the Business Ethics Alliance to provide resources for local businesses in support of good business practices.